"A Timely Program That Fosters Emotional Wellness"

Distinguished “clients” enact unscripted SESSIONS from a challenging time in their lives and ultimately elucidate how they harnessed their painful emotional energy to overcome.

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Synopsis

In 2008, an HBO drama entitled “In Treatment” debuted and ran through 2010. The program, about a psychologist and his patients, aired five nights a week. It won critical acclaim and numerous honors, including Emmy, Golden Globe and Writers Guild awards. There was clearly an audience for fictitious, meticulously scripted “therapy” sessions.

Today, an inspiring and enlightening production, SESSIONS with DR.MARK LERNER, is presented on-screen: real stories of people who have overcome adversity and become the person they are today.

ACT I is set in years past. The distinguished client enacts a particularly challenging time in his or her life in the sanctuary of a therapist's office. Viewers are the proverbial flies on the wall, keenly observing the client articulating authentic thoughts and feelings with Dr. Lerner.

ACT II is set in the present day. Breaking the fourth wall, the audience learns how the client worked to overcome his or her experience — opening the gate to how others, too, could walk down the path from victim to survivor and, ultimately, thriver.

While interviews are structured and cognitive, rehearsed and thought-based, SESSIONS are unscripted and real.

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Set

The set, audio, and lighting are minimalistic: only two armchairs in an office setting drawing all attention to the client and psychologist.

ABOUT DR. MARK LERNER

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Dr. Lerner is a clinical and forensic psychologist, author, speaker and international emotional wellness consultant who focuses on helping people through challenging experiences. As chairman and CEO of The National Center for Emotional Wellness, Inc., he regularly provides practical information, training and support for organizations and corporations, educational institutions, healthcare providers and first responders around the world.

For over thirty years, Dr. Lerner has been called upon to consult with and train organizations, including private and public corporations, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, airlines, police and fire departments, universities and schools, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the United Nations in New York and Paris, France.

Dr. Lerner frequently works with the legal community, serving as an expert witness in cases involving traumatic stress and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and with corporations in addressing emotional wellness and the development of organization-based Crisis Management Teams. The United Nations has appointed him as an Expert Consultant with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security.

Dr. Lerner is the founding president of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and former chairman of the National Center for Crisis Management. He is the originator and creator of the Acute Traumatic Stress Management (ATSM) intervention model, utilized around the world, and has authored several books based on this model including Acute Traumatic Stress Management, Comprehensive Acute Traumatic Stress Management, A Practical Guide for School Crisis Response and A Practical Guide for University Crisis Response. He has additionally authored It'sOK Not To Be OK, During a Crisis, Surviving & Thriving, Living Through a Traumatic Experience, and CrisisNotes.

Dr. Lerner began his professional life over 35 years ago as a musician and entertainer. Today, he returns to the stage in SESSIONS with DR. MARK LERNER.